RedOx Chemistry

1. RedOx Chemistry OK, I balanced the frigging equation, so what?

2. An example of an Electrochemical Reaction Oxidation half-reaction: Fe2+ Fe3+ + 1 e- Reduction half-reaction: Sn4+ + 2 e- Sn2+ Net: 2 Fe2+ + Sn4+  2 Fe3+ + Sn2+ So frigging what? Well a couple things:

3. Looking back at our first example.. 2 Fe2+ + Sn4+  2 Fe3+ + Sn2+ A couple frigging things: • It is a different set of compounds. If I mix Fe2+ and Mn5+ and IF the reaction above happens, the stuff in my beaker is different. • Electrons move…think lightning and kites.

4. WTFDYMBI? What do you mean by “IF”? 2 Fe2+ + Sn4+  2 Fe3+ + Sn2+ 2 Fe3+ + Sn2+  2 Fe2+ + Sn4+ 2 Fe2+ + Sn4+ 2 Fe3+ + Sn2+ Is this just another case of equilibrium…?

5. Not Usually Only one of the reactions will happen. That’s why your rusty car never de-rusts! Why is that? Well, I thought you’d never ask?

6. Typical Reaction Energy Diagram

7. What if you just flip it around?

8. So what? We’ve seen the reaction diagrams before, what does it mean? Reactions can only do 4 things: • Not happen at all – boring! • Proceed as written • Proceed in reverse • Sit at equilibrium How do you decide what they do? Thermodynamics!

9. Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is the branch of chemistry that determines which of all the possible outcomes for a “system” happens. What’s a system? Whatever you are studying.

10. Condensed Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is the answer to the question: what do you want to be? There are two things driving the universe. You are familiar with both of them! • Laziness • Disorder

11. “Laziness” Really just a question of energy. The universe prefers to be in its lowest energy state possible. Balls don’t roll up hill. It is a natural inclination of all physical systems to seek the lowest energy state possible. (On the couch with a beer and a remote!)

12. In terms of reactions? Reactions like to roll down hill in energy.

13. Downhill in energy My products are lower in energy than my reactants. This is GOOD! This is called an exothermic reaction (giving off heat/energy).

14. What if you just flip it around? Will this reaction happen? It is uphill in energy. This is an “endothermic” reaction: absorbing heat/energy from the surrounding universe.

15. Energy isn’t the whole story. If energy were the whole story, only exothermic reactions would happen. And if only exothermic reactions happen…there would be no equilibrium reactions. The reverse reaction of an exothermic reaction is always endothermic.

16. Enter Entropy! The other pillar of thermodynamics is entropy. Entropy often gets described as “disorder” or “randomness”. This is not quite accurate. Entropy represents the number of possible states that a system could be in.

17. States I mix 1 molecule of O2 and 1 molecule of H2 in an evacuated 1 L flask. How many different states of this system are there? A nearly infinite number of them!

18. “States” of a system H2 O2 O2 H2

19. “States” of a system O2 O2 H2 H2

20. What the &^%* can we do? Thermodynamics deals with statistical analysis of ensembles of states. In our case, we are usually looking at a single representative state of the system that is the “most probable” state.

21. To determine what happens… We need to balance the energy considerations AND the entropy considerations.

22. Reaction Energies The energy change associated with a chemical reaction is called the enthalpy of reaction and abbreviated H. • H = Hfinal – Hinitial This is the total change in the internal energy of a system. Remember, the system is defined as the process of interest.

23. Ea Energy Reactants Products ΔH Reaction Coordinate General Reaction Scheme – “hot pack”

24. Endothermic Reaction – “cold pack” Ea Energy Products Reactants ΔH Reaction Coordinate

25. Where does the Energy go? In the case of a chemical reaction, you need to keep the different types of energy separate in your mind: Bond energy – energy INSIDE the molecules Thermal energy (heat) – kinetic energy of the molecules Energy of the “bath” – kinetic energy of solvent or other molecules in the system

26. Energy changes H represents the change in INTERNAL MOLECULAR ENERGY. H = Hfinal - Hinitial

27. Ea Energy Reactants Products ΔH Reaction Coordinate Exothermic Reaction – “hot pack”

28. Exothermic energy changes H = Hfinal – Hinitial < 0 Hinitial>Hfinal This energy is internal to the molecule. The excess gets absorbed by the rest of the system as heat causing the molecules to move faster (more kinetic energy) and the temperature to increase.

29. Endothermic Reaction – “cold pack” Ea Energy Products Reactants ΔH Reaction Coordinate

30. Endothermic energy changes H = Hfinal – Hinitial > 0 Hinitial<Hfinal This energy is internal to the molecule and must come from somewhere. The additional energy required by the system gets absorbed from the rest of the system as heat causing the molecules to move slower (less kinetic energy) and the temperature to decrease.

31. Ea Energy Products Reactants ΔH Reaction Coordinate The hard part is getting over the hump.

32. Ea = Activation Energy The tale of a reaction is not limited strictly to the identity and energetics of the products and reactants, there is a path (reaction coordinate) that must get followed. The “hump” represents a hurdle that must be overcome to go from reactants to products.

33. Energy Ea Products Reactants ΔH Reaction Coordinate How do you get over the hump? If you are at the top, it is easy to fall down into the valley (on either side), but how do you get to the top?

34. Energy Ea Products Reactants ΔH Reaction Coordinate How do you get over the hump? The molecules acquire or lose energy the same way: by colliding with each other! The energy comes from the “bath”, the rest of the universe.

35. System vs. Universe You have to keep the system and universe separate in your mind. Conservation of Energy implies that ALL processes are a zero sum game. Endothermic vs. exothermic applies to the SYSTEM not the universe. The universe gives or gets the energy change of the system.

36. Energy Considerations Energy is an important consideration in any physical or chemical process. You need to “climb the hill”! We’ve seen that the “hill” (EA) relates to the rate (k) and the equilibrium position (K).

37. If energy were the whole story… Why would water evaporate? It is an endothermic process with an activation barrier, so it requires energy to be put into the system. Yet, water spontaneously evaporates even at near freezing temperatures. (And actually sublimes when frozen!)

38. BUT… ENERGY CHANGES AREN’T THE WHOLE STORY!

39. The rest of the story… The energy of the molecules and their motions are one part of the story – the “thermo part”. There is also the distribution of atoms within the allowed states. It not only matters what the average energy of the system is, but which molecules have what energies and what positions!

40. The rest of the story… …is entropy (S) - is a measure of the distribution of states. Entropy is sometimes defined as “disorder” or “randomness”. It is really more complicated than that and represents the total number of different micro-states available to the system.

41. Entropy is… …a state function. Entropy gets handled much the same as enthalpy. There are tables of entropy values, and it is usually the change (S) that matters more than the absolute amount.

42. Some examples What has more entropy: 1 mole of water or 1 mole of steam? Why? 1 mole of steam – the molecules in steam are not associated with each other and are, therefore, free to explore more positions and energy states!

43. Some examples What has more entropy: 1 mole of water or ½ mole of water mixed with ½ mole of methanol? Why? The mixture – there are the same number of molecules in both systems, but the mixture allows for more possible distributions of the molecules!

44. The Laws of Thermodynamics 1st Law – Conservation of Energy 2nd Law – The Entropy of the universe is always increasing for spontaneous changes. 3rd Law – A perfect crystal at 0 K has no entropy.

45. Just like the rock needing a shove to get rolling, a reaction needs to get “over the hump” (overcome EA). But an exothermic reaction is always better than an endothermic reaction because the final state (products) are lower in energy.

46. What about entropy and the Universe? Turns out the Universe likes MORE entropy. (The little trickster likes “disorder”!) Increasing entropy means  S would be: greater than 0, less than 0? Greater than 0 (products – reactants)

47. NOTE: There is no law of conservation of entropy.

48. If the Universe gets to choose: It prefers an exothermic reaction (H<0) that increases entropy (S>0). Such a reaction is called “spontaneous” – it happens without you needing to force it.

49. Spontaneous change A spontaneous change is one that happens “naturally”, without being forced by an outside agent. Spontaneous change: Water evaporating at room temperature. A rock rolling down hill. Non-spontaneous change: Freezing water at room temperature. Rolling a rock uphill.

50. Spontaneous change A spontaneous change is thermodynamically favorable.